Hunter is the Hunted
by Mad Maruri Tigerfox
Summary: Now you'll suffer for the damage you've done... NOTE: Alternate Ending for "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. Written for my English class. One-Shot.


It had been three days since he was abandoned here in this "danger around every corner; you're never safe" era and even he was surprised he had lasted that first blasted evening…

"…_now you'll suffer for the damage you've done…"_

Travis's words rang in his head like a loud bell from a large bell tower, signaling it was time to come to church. Just by stepping on a butterfly, he earned himself this horrible fate of running round and round in this sticky jungle, trying to escape whatever thing was coming after him at the time.

Everything around him buzzed with noise and life. There were crickets strumming their horrendously loud song, bellowing croaks from the toads, the teeth clenching hiss of the rising steam from the ground floor, and who couldn't notice the roaring of the reptiles that inhabited this place. Eckles's mind was frantic with fear, not to mention dizzyingly confused from all of the different sounds, and his heart was pounding inside his chest as he sprinted across the moist, mushy soil, his beat up hunting boots sinking with each bound. The echoing screech of a very large and obviously hungry predator cut through the vapor filled, dense air and pierced his sensitive human ear drums.

"I have to get away!" he cried, panting heavily in between each word trying to get a big enough gulp of air to fuel his physically exhausted muscles.

He sweated more than usual thanks to the extremely humid climate, causing his tattered and torn clothes to cling to his limbs. He felt that he was losing utterly every bit of sanity that he had left. The natural "Fight or Flight" reaction had been up and running for two and a half days now. He had lost an incredible amount of weight while running for his life. His senses had heightened to a point it overwhelmed him, and his adrenaline seemed to be a non-stop substance at this point.

Eckles didn't want to die. Not here. Not this way. He didn't want to be some prehistoric lizard's meal!

His lungs ached from the large, heavy breathing he had been doing, but he didn't care. His mind was set on finding a way out of this place, a safe place to rest, and take refuge from every other thing here and he would do it if it killed him. With the sounds of the carnivore's footsteps rattling the trees around him, he pumped his legs faster attempting to get away from it, taking into consideration that the beast had now slowed down its pace.

'Wonderful!' he thought with glee. The animal was probably trying to find his scent and that was his chance to get to an exit and that was exactly what he got.

Sun light shined in through an opening in the soggy vegetation to a field with a small cave that was just barely visible to his red, strained eyes. The expression on his face brightened with hope of survival for another day and somehow he moved even faster. Determination's effect on the human body was a marvel that should be envied in his mind, but his thoughts were interrupted as his left shoe sunk further into the damp ground and he plunged straight into the mud below him.

'Nooo!' he moaned inwardly as a faint stomp came from a distance away. He knew exactly what it was, 'I must make it…!'

Arm and legs quivering from the mind-boggling amounts of stress that had been put on them, he forced himself back up onto his feet with a struggle and kept on pushing his body even more past its limits. He stumbled around as he tried to return to the fast retreat he had been in just a few seconds ago. He kept telling himself he had to make it, watching the hole get closer and become larger and a smile came onto his features, but there was a nagging voice in the back of his head as he did…

It was all too quiet. Practically no sound was coming from anything around him, even the crickets and toads were silent. What was going on…?

"I going to make it!" he said, completely dismissing that notion and beginning to become extremely excited at the thought that he was going to be okay in just a few minutes, but he came to a horrible realization as he skidded to a stop just a few feet away from the gap in the wall of plants, falling back onto the ground while slowing down.

All of the color in his face drained, his heart slowed to barely beating enough to where he could live, his limbs shook violently, and his eyes widened, pleading to God above that this wasn't really happening as he stared at the large, dark, outlined figure standing menacingly with its head lowered to the ground to where it could see what it was after clearly.

There hadn't been only one hunting him…


End file.
